The Adventure of English
The Biography of a Language
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Narrated by:
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Robert Powell
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By:
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Melvyn Bragg
About this listen
This is the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language.
The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion, and trade, but also the story of people, and how their lives continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.
©2003 Melvyn Bragg (P)2014 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Putting a century of scholarship on one of the world's most enduring popular novels into accessible, narrative form, this new approach to a classic of world literature is written for a wide general audience. Packed full of information about the book's origins and later career on stage and screen, The Novel of the Century brings to life the extraordinary story of how Victor Hugo managed to write his novel of the downtrodden despite a revolution, a coup d'etat, and political exile.
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how hard to write a book
- By James Grohs on 08-06-24
By: David Bellos
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A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
- 1599
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: James Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Abridged
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1599 was an epochal year for Shakespeare and England. During that year, Shakespeare wrote four of his most famous plays: Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and, most remarkably, Hamlet; Elizabethans sent off an army to crush an Irish rebellion, weathered an Armada threat from Spain, gambled on a fledgling East India Company, and waited to see who would succeed their aging and childless queen.
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Note!--Abridged version
- By Scott on 01-05-16
By: James Shapiro
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The Man Who Invented Fiction
- How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World
- By: William Egginton
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 17th century, a crippled, graying, almost toothless veteran of Spain's wars against the Ottoman Empire published a novel. It was the story of a poor nobleman, his brain addled from studying too many novels of chivalry, who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. That story, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in human history.
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Very Interesting and Informative, but Poorly Read
- By LCorSMT on 06-21-23
By: William Egginton
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Young Benjamin Franklin
- The Birth of Ingenuity
- By: Nick Bunker
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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From his early career as a printer and journalist to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth, he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world, where he fought many battles with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of 41, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Bunker goes behind the legend to reveal the sources of his passion for knowledge.
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Good Book but LOTS of Names
- By Tim on 10-31-19
By: Nick Bunker
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Bible and Sword
- England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize - winning historian Barbara Tuchman explores the complex relationship of Britain to Palestine that led to the founding of the modern Jewish state - and to many of the problems that plague the Middle East today.
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Excellent book, but not quite objective
- By Kellie on 04-25-11
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Natasha's Dance
- A Cultural History of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
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A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
- By Tarquin on 02-13-19
By: Orlando Figes
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Making History
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- By: Richard Cohen
- Narrated by: Richard Cohen
- Length: 26 hrs and 8 mins
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There are many stories we can spin about previous ages, but which accounts get told? And by whom? Is there even such a thing as “objective” history? In this “witty, wise, and elegant” (The Spectator), book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record. Cohen argues, for example, that some historians are practitioners of “Bad History” and twist reality to glorify themselves or their country.
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Missing 20 pages from book
- By Rick, Austin on 04-23-22
By: Richard Cohen
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The Pun Also Rises
- How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
- By: John Pollack
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental questions: Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter?
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Punderful Little Book
- By B. Lane on 01-10-13
By: John Pollack
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The Discoverers
- A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself
- By: Daniel J. Boorstin
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
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Why didn't the Chinese discover America? Why were people so slow to learn the earth goes around the sun? How and why did we begin to think of "species" of plants and animals? How, when, and why did people begin digging in the earth to learn about the past? How did the study of economics begin? These are but a few of the fascinating questions answered by Dr. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress Emeritus.
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One of my Top 10 Fav. Books!
- By shannonnn on 05-09-05
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The Story of English in 100 Words
- By: David Crystal
- Narrated by: David Crystal
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this unique new history of the world's most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences, and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century ("roe", in case you are wondering). Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words ("loaf") to cutting edge ("twittersphere") and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue ("and", "what") to the more fanciful ("fopdoodle"), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language.
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Random but entertaining
- By Sean on 04-01-13
By: David Crystal
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More satire than history
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Kory should narrate more Audible books!
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Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters. The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy, and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the vikings.
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"Pretty Good"
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What listeners say about The Adventure of English
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Rich in BCS
- 04-14-06
Not for those with a casual interest
I learned much from this book and, as other reviewers have pointed out, it is very well written and read. However, I must confess that it was a chore for me to get through. The lists of words often went on and on and would definitely work better in written form than in audio. While driving I often had to switch to the radio to keep from falling asleep.
If you have a serious interest in language and etymology, this is a must read. For the rest of us, it's a bit like homework that you know you should do, but don't always look forward to with glee.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- S. Olsen
- 05-14-09
Great material
I am not a linguist and the lists of words did not interest me, but hearing the history through the angle of the language was very interesting. The infusion of foreign words in the language shows how great an influence the force or movement was on the minds of the english people. A good introduction and an enjoyable listen.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Hjane
- 07-03-06
three cheers for English
This was a great listen. Being British and having a mother with a very "proper" accent and a father with a lovely Scottish accent made this book an even better adventure. It gave me a clear understanding of many of the odd terms and quotes and sayings which are such a part of our family. If you are from anywhere in Britain you will marvel at the reader's command of dialects both ancients and modern. I really enjoy it when I can learn a lot from a book and be entertained at the same time.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- DJKPP
- 04-21-11
a bit mysoginistic but still fascinating
Melvyn Bragg is one of the actual persons that all the comedians mocking the ponderously educated English gentleman are modeling. Depending on your tastes, this book is either full of the lush and deep details and patriotic pride that feels like featherbed, or it is suffocating and tedious. The content is fascinating, but you best be patient. Give a listen to Mr. Bragg's podcast, In Our Time, and you'll get a sense of his style. He writes just as he talks. If you like his podcast, you will really like this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- J and M
- 12-16-16
Can listen over and over again
I have listened to this over and over again. It's the way all history should be taught. Well, at least one refreshing way. I guess some people had problems with English sort of going on an adventure. But, though it was treated somewhat like an individual, it wasn't. It wasn't so personified that it was simplified. I thought it was an engaging way to show all of the origins, cultural changes, struggles and triumphs, and history English came through to what we now know as modern English. Simple things going one way or the other, or not happening could have made all the difference in the survival and/or direction English took to get to what we have today. A really fun romp through history with English.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Matt
- 06-02-10
Surprisingly engaging
Wow! What an unexpectedly interesting book. The reader is amazing too. It's interesting to hear him tackle all of the various dialects, with his Jamaican dialect being among my favorites. Highly recommended!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- William
- 03-11-10
Interesting History of English
After seeing the BBC 8 part series last year hosted by Mr Bragg himself, I wanted to read this book. However I will admit a tendency to shy away from reading books that deal with pre 1066 history as I admit some difficulty dealing with the correct pronunciations of proper names from that time period. Listening to this book the past few days on my daily commute, it has reinvigorated my love for the Middle Ages and the pre-Norman times. Perhaps as some critics of the BBC show pointed out there may be stretches and leaps on word etymology at points but overall I would highly recommend this to a general amateur historian not only for the history of the language but to show how it truly affected the history of England itself.
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1 person found this helpful
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- R. W. Womer Jr.
- 03-12-17
The Book for the Word Nerd
I can't imagine reading this without the excellent narration of everything from Old English to foreign languages. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who has a love of the English language and wishes to brush up on his or her English history.
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- Chris
- 10-03-12
Fascinating and engaging history of English
If you could sum up The Adventure of English in three words, what would they be?
English word origins
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Adventure of English?
Jamaican Creole poem on value of dialects to the English language
What does Robert Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Convenience
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
More fascination than extreme reaction
Any additional comments?
Anyone interested in the English Language and words will enjoy this.
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- Charles D. Bentley
- 01-07-17
Fascinating and insightful, must listen!
One of the most interesting and fascinating books I've read. Did you ever wonder why English is the way it is? Where did it come from? Fantastic book, I want to start it over and listen again!
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